Reds InsiderFrom news of the day to news of the weird, John Fay provides a glimpse of what it’s like to cover the Cincinnati Reds

John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

D-Backs 3rd: Harang struck out Webb, gave up a home run to left to Chris Young, got Hudson to fly out, then gave up a bomb to left-center to Eric Byrnes. Harang walked the next two hitters. But he struck out Mark Reynolds to escape further damage.

Reds 3rd: Javy Valentin hit one to the base of the wall in right to lead off. With Valentin's speed and the short wall it, was long single. Harang struck out trying bunt him over. Corey Patterson flied to short center and Keppinger grounded out.

D-Backs 4th: 1-2-3, quick inning for Harang.

Reds 4th: Griffey walked to start the inning. Brandon Phillips hit a shot to right-center. Young came in to try to cut it off. It got by him and to the wall. Griffey scored easily and Phillips ended up at third with a triple. Adam Dunn’s groundout got Phillips in.

D-Backs 5th: 1-2-3.

Reds 5th: Leadoff single by Harang. Great play by Hudson, great hustle by Harang. DP from Keppinger ended it.

D-Backs 6th: 1-2-3.

Reds 6th: Two-out walk from Dunn.

D-Backs 7th: Jared Burton pitching. He got two quick outs. Then Jeff Salazar turned on a pitch. It stayed just inside the foul pole in the right. Arizona 4, Reds 2.

Reds 7th: Norris Hopper was hit by a pitch with two outs.

D-Backs 8th: 1-2-3 inning for David Weathers.

Reds 8th: 1-2-3, thanks to a nice play by Hudson on Griffey's grounder.

D-Backs 9th: Francisco Cordero gave up a hit on the firdst pitch, then retired the side in order.

There was a 59-minute delay at the start. It was the first rain delay on Opening Day since 2000. The Reds had a three-hour delay that day. The game with the Brewers was declared a 3-3 tie. It was first delay at start since a 17-minute delay in 1991.

I'm ok with getting Laird or Saltimaltica from Texas. With so much speculation over the weekend and this morning I was very disappointed to not hear any news on this front. Are Freel's days as a Red still numbered? Today's game is still pretty much in play. Last innings 2 run inning has us back in contention for a win.

I am with ya doom and gloom! Get use to it! I know a lot of people will say it is only the first game, then it will only be the first week, then the first month. Before you know it, it's June, and we are 9 out!

I am really enthused about Hatteberg at 1B, Votto could do way worse!!!!

Things to take from this game, Pitching wasnt great but not to bad, at least the two bombs were solo, EE played well after his error, other than that good fielding, Patterson played well in the outfiled, the thing that made me mad was our hitting, if the team has 10 Ks more than likley no W. Tommoorw reds have the day off im sure dusty will have them ready for wednesday!

One game and you guys are ready to break up the team crying pending crash and burn. You should be ashamed of yourselves. If you cannot stick with and support the team from beginning to end without resorting to blatant negativity then I question your loyalties and invite you to get off the wagon now.

Dusty was dead wrong about Patterson over Freel and Hopper. Mark my words, Patterson will be hitting .120 for the next 10 games. To put him at lead off baffles me and shows Dusty has absolutely no objectivity. Someone should do some digging. Is Patterson his wife's nephew? This is a crime considering how many great plays hopper made last year along with his base running. Freel was also hitting great this spring while Patterson couldn't hit a beach ball.

Dusty was dead wrong about Patterson over Freel and Hopper. Mark my words, Patterson will be hitting .120 for the next 10 games. To put him at lead off baffles me and shows Dusty has absolutely no objectivity. Someone should do some digging. Is Patterson his wife's nephew? This is a crime considering how many great plays hopper made last year along with his base running. Freel was also hitting great this spring while Patterson couldn't hit a beach ball.

I'm giving everyone a pass today, just because of Webb's powerful aura. I think he's the best pitcher in the NL, and it's a miracle if you beat him. One mistake, and you're outta the ball game. The Reds made several today, so they had no chance.

However, I'll add that Encarnacion is gonna bring this team down more than anyone else with his incompetent fielding and streaky hitting. He shouldn't be on the field at all. Keppinger 3rd, A-Gon 2nd (with Freel filling in until he returns.) As for Corey "0 For 4" Patterson, I agree with the naysayers. Hopper brings so much more to the table (esp. reliability) and he should be out there. The fact that he's not is not a good sign of Baker's intelligence.

Um, did you guys expect the Reds to score 6+ runs against Brandon Webb today? They played alright; the EE ball slipped and Burton gave up a bad HR, but all and all they didn't play TOO badly. I mean, Harang gave up two HRs, so that was bad, but we know that he's not the problem. Weathers and Cordero were solid, Dunn had a SACRIFICE groundout RBI (!), and got a few leadoff batters on base. The production will come and everything will work itself out.

its pathetic listening to the same old garbage from the negative people. I could get on here an type all this crap off the top of my head too, problem is I don't want to sound like an idiot. one game? One game and we're done?? patterson sucks, dusty sucks, yep we're in the tank lets throw in the towel.

apparently you all want freel in CF, lopez at short, lohse in the rotation, our best hitters traded away so krivsky can screw up another trade. yeah, sounds pretty good.

Why are people still ripping dusty, go out and rehire narron, can't figure out what your love affair is for him.

I mean come on, at least come on here with good arguments, not "we lost the first game we're screwed". we just played against brandon webb, 2 time cy young award winner brandon webb and we were in the game to the end. yep that means the teams screwed start trading away all our starters including harang for a bunch of prospects we can just trade away after another 7 losing seasons. great plan, I mean do you even listen to yourselves.

After today I realized you have no idea what your talking about, so I probably won't even check this blog for awhile, because the rest of the garbage I read on here won't be worth it.

I'll be back in a month, if they suck then I'll start giving some credit, but no one knows anything after 1/162 of the season!!!!!!!!!!!

Its too bad no one is going to notice, but pattersons defense in CF is a huge asset, he's way, way better defensivley than freel, lots more range, he got to balls and stopped to catch them where another guy would still be running or turing around and losing the ball for a double or worse. especially since the corner outfield spots have guys with little range, he will help our defense for our pitchers in a park thats a pitchers nightmare, errors will hurt more, balls like the one patterson dove for would be doubles and have more potential to hurt the team. who knows how patterson does in the leadoff spot he did hit some balls on a line a few times today, but he was going for a homer on the 3-1 pitch he flew out on, but the rest of his at bats were fine. one game, its one game, thats it, one, we dont know anything yet.

I really hope we have a keppinger/gonzo time share when gonzo comes back.

What a player to have in keppinger, who can hit, and back up the toughest position on the field while playing other positions well. What a weapon, maybe he would do ok at SS everyday, I'm starting to come around a little on that, but again, we don't know anything after 1/162 of a season.

dunn looked terrible, he needs to decide what he is going to do with his hands everytime, not change it every AB. he strikeouts because he can't figure out a way to get his hands in the same position every swing. this is a big problem that should have been corrected by now.

1 loss is no big deal but for $15 million I think you'd expect a disciplined, fired-up, hard-charging team.

Instead the Reds played with about as much verve as a glass of Dusty's scotch.

Sorry but all the optimists are, once again, delusional. It's not pessimistic to point out the real Reds--it's REALISTIC.

Patterson had a great defensive day. EE managed to get two walks to clog the bases (woohoo). Valentin had better get a new attitude before the Reds trade for a starting catcher and he finds himself out of the majors.

It was an off day. But to expect this team to win a wild card or the division is utterly nonsensical. We're making progress but we're far from a great team.

I still think the Pirates have a great chance to finish ahead of the Reds and out of last place this year. Fan bias here is blinding but it's the same nonsense each season, the second the Reds play badly or sloppily the fans are full of excuses (it's only 1 of 161 is about the lamest one of all given how listless and loser-like the Reds played today).

However, I'll add that Encarnacion is gonna bring this team down more than anyone else with his incompetent fielding and streaky hitting. He shouldn't be on the field at all. Keppinger 3rd, A-Gon 2nd (with Freel filling in until he returns.) As for Corey "0 For 4" Patterson, I agree with the naysayers. Hopper brings so much more to the table (esp. reliability) and he should be out there. The fact that he's not is not a good sign of Baker's intelligence.

I can't believe this was even written! Are you seriously kidding me? The people in this city never fail to amaze me. We're one game into the season and we've already got people saying that Encarnacion will lose us games and that Patterson is a liability in the lineup.

I will say this again, and for the final time...

Every year people in this town are quick to judge EE, but every year he puts up good numbers and hits in the clutch for the team. When the guy is sucking it up half way through the year, then gripe about him. Otherwise, it's too early, lay off him.

that single up the middle in the first to score the unearned run, gonzo probably gets to that ball and makes a play. those are the type of plays that don't show up on a stat sheet or in a kepp fan club members' mind. and if anyone is mad about that first error, eddie got embarrassed because he was the first guy to touch a wet baseball off the ground. all the other guys got the benefit of seeing that and internalizing it.

Its too bad 7 years of losing produces people who think they are "realists" by being pessimistic for a team thats been bad.

Last year I wasn't happy but I kept watching them, I didnt jump ship then and I'm not now. I said it all last season they were better than they played, narron really brought this team down, as did stanton, lohse, belisle, saarloos, milton, the 3 cather system, the poor fundementals, and the I dont care attitude of the team.

They had a winning record the end of last year, even thought they played against a lot of teams fighting for the playoffs, and had some injuries down the stretch.

If you can't see the players on this team are better than the beginning of last year your blind, look back to that list I just wrote. Quit giving yourself credit for thinking this team is bad.

For the record I don't think they'll get into the playoffs, but I do give them a shot. Your wrong, realize it.

Dicken - I love how you assume everyone is making snap judgments based on one game, and you're the superior smart guy who knows better. The pessimism/realism is based on a lot more than one game. EE's defense is notoriously poor and his hitting is streaky; love the guy all ya want, but don't dismiss the reality of his past. HE barely had a hit in spring training, then he throws away the VERY FIRST ball he gets in the first game, as well as goes hitless. Not a good sign of things to come. Optimism is great - delusional optimism is foolish.

"that single up the middle in the first to score the unearned run, gonzo probably gets to that ball and makes a play. those are the type of plays that don't show up on a stat sheet or in a kepp fan club members' mind. and if anyone is mad about that first error, eddie got embarrassed because he was the first guy to touch a wet baseball off the ground."

I saw that play and thought the exact same thing, I can't remember how fast the hitter was, but he still would have at least had a chance to get to the ball and prevent the run from scoring. maybe a throw to first but it would have been tough.

I'm going to let that one slide for EE. I was mad though when he did it, he responded well and didnt let it affect him the rest of the game.

You have got to be excited about Volquez and his outing in extended spring today. Harang tends to struggle in cold weather folks so relax. We have a very young team this year. We're going to win some and going to lose some. We lost to a potential Cy Younger this day and to a very good Arizona team we often struggle against so it is unfair to judge the team based on one early season game. Its not the end of the world. If any of you have ever went to an early spring game in Cincinnati you must know how miserable of a day it can be. You freeze your asteroid off. I would imagine the players were leery of the condition of the field making them overly cautious.

Dicken - I love how you assume everyone is making snap judgments based on one game, and you're the superior smart guy who knows better. The pessimism/realism is based on a lot more than one game. EE's defense is notoriously poor and his hitting is streaky; love the guy all ya want, but don't dismiss the reality of his past. HE barely had a hit in spring training, then he throws away the VERY FIRST ball he gets in the first game, as well as goes hitless. Not a good sign of things to come. Optimism is great - delusional optimism is foolish.

How is it a snap judgment? It's every game that EE plays in!

Every single time the guy makes an error, there are about 20 people on this blog that rip into him saying that he should be sent to Triple A. It's mind boggling, because every year he is a leader in hitting on this team and is probably the MOST clutch of any of the other players!

He batted 4 times and walked 2 times today. Sure, in two REAL at-bats he was hitless, but 50% of the time he was on base! That's a pretty moot argument, and from what I could see, most of the Reds players didn't hit today either against a 2 time Cy Young winner!

EE made 16 total errors in 137 games last year, and the vast majority of those were made before he was sent to Triple A. Not to mention, the majority of those errors were throwing errors, not fielding errors. And that is 9 less errors from 2006 and in 25 more games!

I am not quick to judge, but seems to me that this argument is purely opinionated from your end. Next time Keppinger makes an error, I will be sure to be the first person that says he needs demoted! From what I could see, he didn't bat too well today either! /sarcasm

Encarnacion is valuable to this team, whether it's something you like to admit or not. And hey, maybe I am being too passionate about this, but it honestly makes me sick that we have people in this city that can't see beyond 16 errors in 137 games from last year and ACTUALLY LOOK at how valuable the guy is to the team. Take away EE, you take away .300 BA, 20 HR, and 90 RBIs a year and increasing every year. Not to mention, his fielding is getting better every year too (which I am sure you hate to admit, but the stats don't lie)!

But hey...you could always have Castro, right? Or maybe we could give Brandon Larson another call? They are both AWESOME at driving in runs, right?

* Our online blogs currently are hosted and operated by a third party, namely, Blogger.com. You are now leaving the Cincinnati.Com website and will be linked to Blogger.com's registration page. The Blogger.com site and its associated services are not controlled by Cincinnati.Com and different terms of use and privacy policy will apply to your use of the Blogger.com site and services.

By proceeding and/or registering with Blogger.com you agree and understand that Cincinnati.Com is not responsible for the Blogger.com site you are about to access or for any service you may use while on the Blogger.com site.
<< Home